The court issued warrants on 18 November for Cristiani, the former member of Congress Rodolfo Parker, and nine retired military officers.
Cristiani has long been accused of orchestrating the murders because of the Jesuits’ criticism of the conduct of the armed forces during El Salvador’s civil war. He left the country in 2021, as did Parker, after a trial for corruption, and was at one time believed to be in Italy. The judicial authorities issued an international alert for their arrest.
Fr José María Tojeira SJ, spokesman for the Jesuits Central American province and a former rector of UCA, said that a trial was not enough. “The ideal is that the judge makes the military ask for forgiveness for what was an institutional crime,” he wrote on social media. “To do it publicly and to promise to take clear measures so that it doesn’t happen again [after] 35 years without the armed forces taking responsibility for the crime.”
However, the Jesuits also called for reduced sentences for the accused because of their age: Cristiani is 76, and the other accused are in their late 70s or early 80s.
The charges followed UCA’s commemorations for the thirty-fifth anniversary of the murders, with a day of Masses, lectures and artistic activities culminating in a torchlight vigil. The motto for the commemoration was: “We sow hope for a harvest of freedom.” Many foreigners attended the events along with Salvadoreans.
UCA’s rector Fr Mario Cornejo SJ said: “It is important to keep their memory alive, especially to keep alive the memory of their solidarity with the victims of the civil war of yesterday and the victims of today, who suffer from insecurity in society, and also the victims who have suffered more institutional violence. For these reasons we believe that it is important to keep alive their legacy to learn solidarity.”